Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Description of Service

Peace
Corps Uganda

PO
Box 7007, Plot 48 Malcolm X Drive, Kololo, Kampala, Uganda

DESCRIPTION
OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER SERVICE

Jennifer
Harkins – Peace Corps Uganda

After
a competitive process stressing applicant skills, adaptability and
cross-cultural understanding, Ms. Jennifer Harkinswas invited
into Peace Corps Service. As part of the language and cross-cultural
component of the training program, Ms. Harkins lived with a Ugandan
family in Seguku for approximately 8 weeks and was made to feel
welcome and at home. This home stay assisted Ms. Harkins in adapting
to the Ugandan culture and acquiring local language abilities, thus
facilitating the transition into her service in Kinoni.

Ms.
Harkins began Peace Corps training on February 11, 2011 at the
training site in Lweza, Uganda where she completed an intensive
ten-week training program encompassing the following subject areas:

Cross-cultural Orientation: This
component consisted of sessions on the Ugandan people, including
politics, geography, social values and norms, history, health, and
gender roles (40 hours).

Technical: This component
included a general introduction to the education system in Uganda; a
specific introduction to secondary schools; community mobilization;
practice teaching in secondary schools; and observation and feedback
skills. (167.5 hours).

Safety
and Security: This component consisted of training in personal and
road safety issues (8 hours).

Ms.
Harkins entered into Peace Corps service April 22, 2011 and was
assigned to Kinoni Girls’ Secondary School in Kinoni, Mbarara
District through the Ministry of Education and Sports.

Kinoni
Girls’ Secondary School, affiliated with the Church of Uganda, is
an all-girls educational boarding school situated in Southwestern
Uganda. The school offers the first four years of secondary education
called the "Ordinary Levels" and the last two years of
secondary education called the “Advanced Levels” all in an
English medium. The six hundred students of Kinoni Girls’ come from
highly diverse backgrounds and many lack proper English skills. Ms.
Harkins was the only non-Ugandan member of a staff of 45 teachers and
20 non-teaching staff, and though assigned by the Ministry of
Education, she reported directly to Kinoni Girl's Headmaster.

As
a secondary school teacher, Ms. Harkins served within the Ugandan
educational system, assigned as a Computer teacher. Her teaching
duties included curriculum development, daily lesson planning as well
as constructing and administrating exams and practicals. At the end
of Senior 4, students take a comprehensive National Exam, and only by
passing it are they allowed to continue to the next levels of
secondary education. Thus, many of Ms. Harkins’ teaching efforts
were focused on adequately preparing the students for the exam. While
Ms. Harkins was primarily a computer teacher she also assisted the
mathematics department in teaching one grade level of math for two
semesters. Her teaching load, on average, consisted of 15 teaching
periods a week. Each semester she taught between one and three grade
levels and each level consisted of one or two streams of 45-80
students.

The
curriculum Ms. Harkins followed was put forward by the Ugandan
Ministry of Education. In her two semesters teaching math, Ms.
Harkins covered arithmetic, geometry, algebra, linear and polynomial
functions, and statistics. The computer syllabus, which Ms. Harkins
taught for the entirety of her service, covered a broad range of
topics including, but not limited to, uses of computers, input and
output devices, Microsoft DOS, programming languages, computer
software, Microsoft Windows, and Microsoft Office (including MS-Word,
MS-Excel, and MS-Powerpoint). Mandatory laboratory practicals were
included in many of these topics which Ms. Harkins prepared for and
supervised with the assistance of the school's computer lab
technician.

Ms.
Harkins and her Ministry of Education counterpart were responsible
for maintaining the computer lab and teaching all computer classes.
She also worked closely with Kinoni Girls’ school administration to
write a PCPP (Peace Corps Partnership Program) grant for $7200 which
allowed the school to acquire 20 brand new computers and a new
printer for the computer lab.

Together
with the help of other volunteers Ms. Harkins organized and directed
a regional girls’ empowerment camp (Camp GLOW) in western Uganda
which reached over 50 girls between the ages of 13 and 15. The
week-long camp was held in August 2012 at St. Maria Gorretti Girls’
Secondary School in Fort Portal. In order to facilitate this camp,
Ms. Harkins assisted another volunteer to write a VAST (Volunteer
Activities Support and Training) grant for almost $10,000. The girls
learned about healthy living (HIV/AIDS, Malaria, nutrition and water
sanitation), life skills (decision making, goal setting,
assertiveness, etc.), various teamwork activities and skills (e.g.
critical thinking) and arts and crafts that they can turn in to IGA’s
(Income Generating Activities).

Ms.
Harkins also assisted with a national boys leadership and development
camp, Camp BUILD (Boys of Uganda in Leadership Development), where
she took on the role of a staff member. The camp reached over 100
boys between the ages of 12 and 15 from many different regions in
Uganda. The week-long camp was held in December 2012 at Kisubi
Seminary. She taught sessions and assisted with logistical
coordination throughout the week.

Ms.
Harkins was also involved in several Peace Corps activities. She was
a representative on the Volunteer Action Committee (VAC), serving as
a liaison between volunteers and the Peace Corps administration. Ms.
Harkins also assisted in the 2012 Peace Corps Trainings in Mukono,
leading one week of sessions and spending one week observing trainees
practice teaching in a secondary school. She also represented
secondary education volunteers in the Peace Corps Uganda Grant
Committee from May 2012 to April 2013 reviewing more than 20 grants.

Ms.
Harkins finished her service by working on a third goal project where
she visited other volunteer sites. After each site visit she
compiled information on the volunteer, their site and their
experience as well as the culture the volunteer lives in and the
organization they work for. She distributed this information in the
form of blog posts on her previously started blog. Not only did she
use this as a third goal activity, but she also made it into a
mentoring activity for volunteers who hadn’t been in-country for as
long as she has.

Ms.
Harkins carried out the following activities during her Peace Corps
service:

Secondary
School Teaching

Taught
3 different grade levels of computer classes for 6 terms, which
reached over 220 secondary school girls

Taught
1 grade level of Math classes for 2 school terms, which reached
approximately 100 secondary school girls

Trained
students in critical thinking and logical analysis using “Why?”
question essay assignments and allowing students to draw their own
conclusions based on their previous knowledge

Assisted
as a staff member at a national boys camp focusing on leadership and
development which reached 100 boys between the ages of 12 and 15

Selected
20 girls that benefited from various girls empowerment camps over
the course of her service

Peace
Corps Committees

Served
as a member of the Volunteer Action Committee for 8 months assisting
16 volunteers to better communicate with Peace Corps Administration

Served
as a member of the Grant Committee for 1 year in which time over 20
volunteer grants were reviewed

Training
of Other Peace Corps Volunteers

Led
pre-service training sessions for one Peace Corps training class,
comprising of a total of 45 future volunteers, covering such topics
as the Ugandan education system, working in a secondary school,
teaching computers and math, and strategies for living and working
in Uganda.

Assisted
in training by observing trainees during their school-practice for
one week

Cross-cultural
Exchange

Authored
a blog describing her life and experiences living and working in
Uganda

Corresponded
with friends and family at home to share experience and knowledge of
Ugandan culture and conversed with community members in Uganda to
dispel myths and stereotypes about American culture, therefore
facilitating cross-cultural understanding and promoting global
awareness

Visited 31 volunteers and blogged about their community and their experience
living and working in Uganda

Ms.
Harkins successfully completed her service on April 24, 2013.

This
is to certify in accordance with Executive Order 11103 of April 21,
2013, that Jennifer Harkins served successfully as a Peace Corps
Volunteer. She is therefore eligible to be appointed as a
career-conditional employee in the competitive civil service on a
non-competitive basis. This benefit under the Executive Order
extends for a period of one year after termination of Volunteer
service, except that the employing agency may extend the period for
up to three years for a former Volunteer who enters military service,
pursues studies at a recognized institution of higher learning, or
engages in other activities that, in the view of the appointing
agency, warrant extension of the period.

Pursuant
to section 5(f) of the Peace Corps Act, 22 USC 2504(f), as amended,
any former Volunteer employed by the United States Government
following her Peace Corps Volunteer service is entitled to have any
period of satisfactory Peace Corps Volunteer service credited for
purposes of retirement, seniority, reduction in force, leave, and
other privileges based on length of Government service. Peace Corps
service shall not be credited toward completion of the probationary
or trial period or completion of any service requirement for career
appointment.